


Intrigue

by Titch360



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-10 00:11:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7822690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titch360/pseuds/Titch360
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not all of the problems of daily life in Gotham City can be solved by nighttime vigilantes. Here is one of those problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Intrigue

Intrigue

 

It was a warm and clear summer day that June morning that found Dick walking through the lobby of Wayne Towers.  He found himself busier and busier every day, so he made sure to take some time to get out of his office and check in with the rest of the building.  Dick didn’t get to see this portion of the building often, so he made a point of walking through the public sections of the building at least once a month.  He found that employees were happier when they could see and interact with management on a regular basis.  Dick always found the time to chat with various employees throughout his work day, just to make sure they were happy and didn’t feel forgotten in the scramble of big business.  Dick may not have been able to remember every employee’s name, but he enjoyed the smiles he got when he managed to get one right.  Today, his stroll through the lobby had two purposes, and he was about to come across the second one.

“Here you go.  These are your visitor badges.  Be sure to have them visible at all times while you’re in the building, okay?  Now, if you just follow that path there, and turn left, it will take you to the elevators.  Have a good day, and thank you for visiting Wayne Towers.”

Jason smiled and waved from behind the security desk as the woman and her small daughter walked away.  The little girl turned back with a smile and wave of her arm as she shouted, ‘bye-bye!’

_I may hate working the front desk,_ Jason thought, _but it’s little things like that that make it worth it._

Sensing someone standing at his desk, Jason turned to face forward again with a smile, which quickly fell from his face.

“Welcome to Wayne…Oh, it’s you.”

Dick leaned over the desk with a huge grin on his face.  “Now, is that any way to talk to someone with the power to hire and fire you?”

“You wouldn’t do that,” Jason said confidently.

“No?”

“No.”

“Why not,” Dick asked with a grin.

Jason leaned forward and said dangerously, “Because, unlike others who you can hire and fire, I not only have access to where you sleep, but I have an open invitation.

Dick was only slightly nervous as he said, “You wouldn’t do anything to me in my sleep.”

“Who said anything about doing something to you?  There’s plenty I could do to your bed, though.  Did you know that the space between the springs of a standard mattress are just wide enough for your average land mine to fit between without having to cut any of the springs?”

Dick stood straight up, his mind whirling with possibilities as Jason continued talking.  “Excuse me, _Mister Grayson,_ I have actual people to help.”  Dick stepped numbly aside as another man approached the desk.  “Welcome to Wayne Towers…”

Once the man had walked away, Dick turned back to his brother, smiling.  “You like your job, don’t you?”

Jason thought about it for a second before saying, “I don’t really like the front desk.  I have to be too happy all the time.  But, overall, I would say that, yes, I like my job.”

“Good, because I have a special project for you.”

Jason’s attention was piqued.  “Is there a problem I don’t know about yet?”

Dick gave a half-smile.  “Yes.  Well, not so much a security problem, but maybe some fraud.  I just met the new guy in the mailroom.”

“You think he might be a thief?”

Dick shrugged, “No, not really.  I didn’t really get that vibe from him.  I’m mostly just worried about his age.  He looks a little young.  I looked over his application and everything seemed to check out, but I think he might have lied about his age on his application.  I know, it’s not the biggest security concern, but if it is true, and it comes out in next month’s audit that we hired an underage employee, it will look really bad for the company.”

“What do you want me to do,” Jason asked.

Dick took a step closer and lowered his voice.  “This needs to be handled quietly, discreetly.  I can’t have a witch hunt here, especially if he just looks really young, but is of legal age to work here.  That could lead to a discrimination lawsuit, and we definitely can’t have that.  I just want you to follow him for a bit, see if he messes up and lets something slip.  Anything that might indicate that he is too young to work here.”

Jason snorted, “What’s he going to do, whip out a deck of Pokémon cards and start playing?”

Dick rolled his eyes, “Just watch him.  He seems kind of sneaky.  He may spot you if you try to stalk him.”

Jason smirked at the remark.  “Are you kidding?  You think I can’t track some mailroom guy without being spotted?  Just who do you think you’re talking to here?”

A full smile blossomed on Dick’s face as he said, “Excuse me, what _was_ I thinking?  When I left him, he was delivering packages on the fourth floor.  I want you to go and see if you can get eyes on him, and start your track from there.”

“What about the desk?”

Before Dick could answer, a silver-haired man in a security uniform approached.  “Hello, Mr. Grayson.  Hi, Jason.  I’m here to relieve you for your break.  After that, Steve has you on roving patrol, floors one through five.”

Dick looked back at Jason and said, “There you go.  Remember, he needs to be caught in the act.  I’m counting on you, Jason, don’t let me down.”

Dick walked away as the other guard sat down at the security station and asked, “What was that about?”

“Oh, he just wants me to keep an eye on some new mailroom guy.  Doesn’t quite trust him.”

The guard nodded, “Yeah?  I saw him earlier.”

“Anything suspicious?”

“Not really.  At least, nothing I noticed.  He’s a pretty small guy, though.”

Jason looked thoughtful.  “Small, huh?  Dick thinks he may have lied on his application about his age.”

The other guard shrugged, “I’d believe it.  He looks awfully young.  Then again, when you get to my age, they all start looking young.  Even you, Mister Mysterious Past.”

“Yeah, sure,” Jason chuckled.  “Do you want me to bring you back some Metamucil after my break?”

The older man waved Jason away dismissively and they both chuckled as Jason left for his break.

After taking his break and performing a lap of the lobby and first floor, Jason made his way to the fourth floor to begin his track.  The fourth floor housed three different departments: Human Resources, Accounting, and Data Processing.  As such, it was a vast sea of cubicles with a line of small offices lining the outer walls.  Soft music mixed with the hum of conversations and phone calls to provide a white noise that effectively drowned out the sounds for which Jason was listening.  Jason looked over the top of the cube farm and could see the occasional head passing by.  Unfortunately, the only real descriptor of his target was that he was short.  Jason sighed as he realized he would have to look up and down every row to find the diminutive mailman.

To not scare any of the workers, and to keep his search hidden, Jason began a slow patrol of the floor.  Building security often took laps of the floors, just to make sure everything was running smoothly.  Therefore, his circuit was greeted with disinterested looks and the occasional greeting.  The first few rows he patrolled already had mail sitting in in-boxes, so Jason decided to move a couple rows deeper into the office.

His search was fruitless, and as he stood at the end of the office, a worker rolled his chair out of his cubicle and spoke to Jason.

“Hey.  How’s it going today?”

Jason looked down at the seated man and gave a small smile.  He knew he had seen him before, but did not know a name.  “Oh, about the same as always.  Busy today?”

“Not yet.  Accounting doesn’t pick up until the afternoon on Mondays.  Any safety concerns we need to worry about?”

Jason smirked, “Not on my watch.  Say, you didn’t see the new mailroom guy today, did you?”

The man shook his head, “No, but he was here.  It was the strangest thing.  I was talking to Doris, and the next thing I know, I have mail.  Whoever this new guy is, he’s good.  I mean, my box was empty, I turn around, and my box is full.  Kinda creepy, actually.”

“Thanks.”

Jason walked away, thinking to himself.  _That pretty much rules out this floor.  Everyone here has their mail.  Maybe there is something to Dick’s claim of sneakiness, if no one saw him delivering anything._

On the other side of the floor, the elevator dinged, catching Jason’s attention.  There was probably nothing to it, but the indicator showed the car only going up one floor.  Jason stared until the light above the elevator went out, then headed over to the lift, suddenly curious about who could only be going up one level.

Jason arrived on the fifth floor, trying to convince himself that he was jumping at shadows.  There was no need to be jumpy in this investigation.  It’s not like he was chasing down a perp as Red Hood.  _Then why do I get the feeling that this is going to be even harder than Dick let on?_

Unlike the fourth floor, the fifth floor was divided into a labyrinth of small offices and conference rooms.  The fifth floor housed the offices of the Wayne Foundation and the main conference facilities for meetings not involving executives.  The executives had their own conference facilities in the executive wing, some sixty floors above Jason’s current level.

Looking left and right, Jason saw boxes sitting outside of several offices.  _Dick said he was delivering packages,_ Jason thought, _maybe these are newly delivered._   Jason chose a row at random and walked down it, looking for anything to help in his search.  Unfortunately, the row he chose was full of conference rooms, which were all empty.  _I’ve worked here for a couple months, I should know the layout of the building better than this by now._

Jason got his first break just as he was about to turn around and try to find some offices, instead of conference rooms.  At the end of the row, the door to the last conference room opened.  Jason smirked as he could hear soft voices talking in the usual end of meeting relieved tone.  He could hear chairs being pushed out from under the conference table as people got ready to return to work.  Then, he spotted it.

“Finally,” Jason muttered to himself as he saw a mail cart being pushed out of the conference room.  He quickened his pace until he was standing next to the door.

“Okay, let’s see some…Replacement?”

Tim pushed the cart into the hallway, and was startled to have Jason standing right there, gaping at him.  Recovering, he said quietly, “You _really_ shouldn’t call me that while we’re at work, Jason.”

“Why are you pushing a mail cart?  Where’s the mail guy?”

“I don’t know.  This was left in the hallway.  It was empty when I found it, so we borrowed it to carry some presentation materials to the meeting.” Tim looked up into Jason’s confused expression and asked, “Are you feeling alright, Jason?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said dismissively.  “Say, have you seen the new mailroom guy around?”

Tim shook his head, “Didn’t know we had a new mailroom guy.  The last one I saw was Howard, but he’s been here for years.”

“Was that today,” Jason asked.

“Yeah, this morning, when he brought me a couple inter-office memos.  What’s going on?  Why are you so interested in the mail guys?”

Jason pulled Tim aside and spoke softly as the rest of the conference room emptied out behind them.  “Dick came to me this morning, said he had a project for me.  He said there was a new guy that started in the mailroom today, and he didn’t quite trust him.  He wants me to follow him for a bit, see what kind of vibe I get from the guy.”

Tim thought for a second before saying, “Okay, so what’s the problem?”

Jason hissed, “I can’t find the guy, for one.  If I could just get eyes on him, it would solve everything.”

“What’s he look like?”

Jason sighed, “The only description I have is that he’s short, and Dick thinks he may have lied about his age on his application to get a job.”

“…And Dick is thinking that it will look bad for the company if we hire underage workers,” Tim said with a slow nod.

“He’s sneaky, too.  I talked to a couple people who said that they turned around for a second and had mail delivered.  Didn’t see a delivery guy.  Didn’t hear anything.”

A smile that Jason couldn’t decipher worked its way across Tim’s face.  He said, “Well, sorry, Jason.  Can’t help you.  As you can see, I just got out of a meeting, one that I’ve been in for the last three hours.  What’s your next move?”

Jason sighed again, “I’ve covered four already.  I guess I’ll cover the rest of five, then move downward.  I’ve got to find this guy.  I kind of shot my mouth off to Dick earlier.  If this mail guy eludes me, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Tim chuckled as Jason walked away.  Jason completed his search of the fifth floor after another slow circuit.  Starting to get frustrated, he returned to his starting point and punched the button for the elevator.  Jason waited a full five minutes for the elevator to arrive at his level.  _I could have taken the stairs and been there by now,_ he thought as he pushed his way into the nearly full lift car and hit the button for the third floor.

Like the fourth floor, the third floor was another cube farm.  However, unlike the fourth floor, Jason knew he was on the right trail the second he stepped off the elevator.  Somewhere, the squeaky wheel of a cart called out to him like a siren song as it was pushed in between the endless rows of cubicles.

Jason followed his ears as best he could, but he soon found that sounds echoed strangely in this office environment.  It also didn’t help that people were talking, phones were ringing, printers and copiers were making extra noise, and his target was too short to be seen above the prefabricated walls.  Stabbing wildly in the dark, Jason chose a row and began his search.

It didn’t take long for Jason to realize a new frustration.  The cubicles weren’t laid out in just straight rows.  There was a small labyrinth of paths leading between the work spaces.  _How do these people ever find their desks,_ Jason thought to himself.  _I would go crazy in a workspace like this._

His next break came when Jason caught movement out of the corner of his eye.  He turned just in time to see the end of a mail cart being pulled around a corner in the maze of desks.  He didn’t see who was pulling the cart, just the last couple inches of it as it moved away from him.

Jason hurried down the row as quickly as he could, without giving away the fact that he was chasing someone to the workers at the desks he was passing.  Reaching the corner where he saw the cart turn, he peered down another row and saw the cart make another turn.  This time, he saw half of the cart, which he thought meant he was gaining on his quarry.  Jason thought, _he’s moving kind of fast.  Is he actually delivering mail, or does he know he is being followed?_

Moving faster still, Jason made it to the next corner, and came to a quick stop.  There, a mere seven feet down the next row, was his target.  Jason quickly ducked out of sight as the mail guy set a handful of envelopes in a mail tray and moved on to his next delivery.

_Dick wasn’t kidding.  That is the smallest mailroom guy I have ever seen.  If he’s of legal age to work here, I’ll eat my helmet._

Jason watched as the worker delivered the mail.  The employee never looked in his direction, and as such, Jason felt he had to get a better angle before he could make any decision on whether this guy was of a legal age to work for Wayne Enterprises.

Jason cut across to the next row, hoping he could pretend to be on an innocent patrol when he ran into the new guy.  Unfortunately, at the end of the row, the mail guy turned in the opposite direction.  He had kept his back to Jason the whole time, and had stood slightly hunched over, so Jason couldn’t make an exact prediction as to the employee’s actual size.

Jason’s cell phone rang loudly in his pocket, startling several people nearby.  Jason snatched the device from his pants and answered it before the disruptive noise could interrupt anyone else.

“What is it?” Jason growled into the phone.

“You really aren’t supposed to be using your cell phone while at work, Jason,” Dick’s mocking voice came from the speaker.

“You couldn’t have told me that at a better time?  Maybe in person?  What do you want, Dick?”

“Just calling to see how your hunt is going.”

Jason took a deep breath to calm himself, “It _was_ going fine, until you called and I had to break off my tail.  You were right, he is pretty small.”

Jason could imagine Dick nodding on the other end of the call.  “Do you have a verdict yet?  Do you think he’s too young to work here?”

Jason hesitated, “…I don’t know yet.  I haven’t seen his face so far, just his back.  I’m trying not to be spotted.  You told me not to make it obvious that I was tailing him.”

“What’s your next move?”

Jason looked back at the empty space where the delivery boy was a minute ago and grimaced.  “Once I reacquire him, I’m going to casually run across him and introduce myself.  We have roving security patrols all the time in the building, it won’t look suspicious.”

“Okay.  Just remember, no witch hunt.”

Jason hung up the phone and moved to the last spot where he say the mail guy.  Looking around, Jason felt he was going to have to start over when he heard a worker two rows over thank someone.  Heading in that direction, Jason soon found his mark again.  The worker was pushing his cart away, towards the elevators.  Taking a closer look, Jason saw that the mail cart was empty.  This was his last chance.

Jason approached the employee just as the employee pushed the call button for the elevator.  Jason cleared his throat softly.

“Excuse me.  I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.  Can I see your ID, please?”

“I don’t think that’s really necessary, Todd.”

Jason’s jaw dropped at the familiar, condescending voice that met his request.  “D-Damian?  What are you doing here?”

Turning with a smirk, Jason’s youngest brother said, “I work here.  What are you doing?”

“Wait.  Whoa, whoa.  What do you mean, you work here?”

Jason followed Damian into the elevator when the car arrived.  Pushing the button for basement level one, Damian said, “Father got me a job in the mailroom for the summer.  He said it would be a learning experience for me, but it’s really just something to keep me busy.”

Jason’s cheeks flamed red as he realized the trick that had been played on him this morning.  “I swear, I will get him for this.  He knew exactly what he was doing.”

“What are you mumbling about over there?”

Jason sighed as he said, “It seems that there has been some trickery going on today.”

Damian cocked his head to the side, asking, “What do you mean?”

“I was told to track the new mailroom guy and see if he, being you, showed any signs of having lied on his application about his age.  You are obviously too young to work here legally.  He told me to make a discreet observation and tell him my findings.”

Damian snickered, “Who told you to do that?”

Their eyes met for several seconds before they both nodded and said at the same time, “Grayson.”

Damian huffed, “Of course.  You know what this means, right?”

Jason looked down at the boy with a sneaking suspicion of what was coming up.  “Why don’t you lay it out for me?”

Thinking quickly, Damian said, “Well, there is another guy in the mail room, William.  He looks pretty young, too.”

A slow smile formed on Jason’s face, “I think I see where you’re going with this.  Dick did say that he didn’t want this to turn into a discrimination or harassment lawsuit.”

Damian’s smile grew as they exited into the mailroom.  “I think he’ll go for it, but there is one more thing that will really sell it.”

_Thirty minutes later…_

“Dick, I need you in my office.  Now.”

Bruce’s voice sounded close to entering the Batman range through the phone when he called Dick’s extension.

“S-sure, Bruce.  I’ll…I’ll be right up.”

Dick left his office immediately, wondering for the entire elevator ride up to Bruce’s office what he could have done to make Bruce so angry.  The elevator let him off in Bruce’s outer office, where Jean was standing behind her desk.

“Oh, Dick.  You better go straight in.  Mr. Wayne is not in a mood to be trifled with today.”

“What did I do, Jean?”

The woman sighed, “It…it’s best if he explains it to you.  Go on in, Dick.”

Dick stuck his head in through the door, feeling like he had been called to the principal’s office.  He didn’t get a chance to say anything before Bruce’s voice boomed out, “In, NOW!”

Closing the door behind him, Dick crossed the room and sat at one of the chairs on the visitor side of the desk.  Bruce was pacing behind the desk, one hand stroking his chin.

“I just got off the phone with legal.  It seems we are soon to be the subject of a discrimination lawsuit by one of our employees.  Would you care to tell me _why_ we are soon to be the subject of a lawsuit?”

_What the hell happened_ , Dick thought to himself.  “Bruce, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Bruce spun and leaned over the desk, planting his fists on the dark wood to prop himself up.  “Dick, this isn’t the time for games.  A full investigation is underway, but we already have the full copy of the employee’s statement.  We know what went on.  We are having a government oversight audit in exactly five weeks.  We don’t need this kind of attention right now.”

Dick sounded scared as he said, “Bruce, please, tell me what happened.”

Bruce turned around again and stared out of his floor to ceiling windows.  “It seems that Jason was following one of the mailroom clerks while he made his rounds.  It made him suspicious, so he confronted Jason.  According to the statement, Jason started asking questions about the man’s right to work here, and whether he lied on his application.  Now, the employee, a man named William Khan, who has worked in the mailroom for a couple years, was understandably upset.  He told his supervisor, who called HR, who called legal, who called me.  I talked to Jason, and he said you told him to be on the lookout for, and I quote, ‘a small, suspicious-looking guy working in the mailroom’.  Dick, what were you thinking?”

Dick’s face was as pale as his white dress shirt, which he was starting to sweat through.  “Bruce, it was a joke.  I wanted him to find Damian, not this other guy.  I don’t even know who this William Khan is.  It was just supposed to be a joke for Damian’s first day, I swear.”

“A _joke_?” Bruce snapped, causing Dick to flinch.  “Thanks to your ‘joke’, legal is looking into options to save face and make this go away.  In case you haven’t noticed, big corporations like ours don’t win discrimination lawsuits.  Public opinion sways legal opinion, and the current public opinion says that the corporation is always guilty.”

Bruce’s phone rang.  He snatched it up and held the receiver to his ear.  “Bruce Wayne…Yes…Yes…I see…I see…Okay, thank you.  I guess we have no choice, do we…Are you sure that is the only way?”  Bruce’s head sagged, and he covered his eyes with his free hand.  “No, I’ll take care of it.  I feel partly responsible for this…Thank you.”

Bruce hung up the phone and slumped back into his chair, his hand still covering his eyes.  He said in a weary voice, “That was legal again.  They were able to come to a settlement with Mr. Khan.”

“Oh, good,” Dick sighed.

“No, not good.  Mr. Khan says he won’t file a lawsuit against the company in exchange for two concessions.  First, he wants a public apology from the person who ordered his, what he calls, persecution.  That’s you.  You _will_ do it, you have no choice in the matter.” Bruce sighed dramatically, “Second, the guard who questioned him is to be fired.  We can do it privately, but it has to be done today for the lawsuit to go away.”

Dick’s jaw dropped, “Wait, you mean…”

Bruce met Dick’s eyes for the first time since he entered the office, “Yes, Dick.  Your joke just cost your brother his job.  He’s on his way up here right now, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to be upset when I have to fire him.  When are you going to learn that not all of your jokes are harmless little gags, Dick?  You’re old enough to know better than that.”

There was a soft knock on the door to Bruce’s office before the door opened and Jason walked in.  “I was told to come and see you, Bruce.  No one will tell me what’s going on, I just keep getting these calls from HR.  What’s happening?”

Bruce sighed, “Sit down, Jason.” Jason sat, looking confused.  “Listen, Jason.  This isn’t easy for me, but…”

Dick burst into tears and wrapped his arms around Jason’s shoulders before blurting out, “I’m so sorry, little brother.  I didn’t mean it.  It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.  It was just a joke.  You were supposed to find Damian, not that other guy.  I’m so, so sorry.”

Dick sobbed incessantly into Jason’s shoulder as the man looked up at Bruce.  He then turned to look at the door to the office.  Dick lifted his head to see where Jason was looking when Jason said, “Do you think it worked?”

Damian spoke from where he stood, leaning against the door.  “Yeah, I think that pretty much covers it.”

Bruce came around the desk and placed a hand on Dick’s shoulder while he chuckled, “Sorry, Dick.  You taught him too well.”

Damian came and stood next to Jason, “Can I assume that this means you sold it perfectly, Father?”

“I believe the term is ‘lock, stock, and barrel’, son.”

Dick looked between father and sons with a hopelessly confused look on his face.  Jason and Bruce were smiling, while Damian had a slightly ill, yet happy look on his face.  “I don’t get it,” Dick said softly.

“Sorry, Grayson,” Damian said in a small voice, “I didn’t mean for you to buy it that much, but can we agree that the workplace is not the joking environment you make it out to be?”

Dick was still confused as Damian took a step closer to his eldest brother and placed a hand on Dick’s arm.  “So, wait.  So, there is no William Khan?  No lawsuit?  No one getting fired?”

“There is a William Khan,” Damian said.  “I work with him in the mailroom.  He was training me this morning, before you sent Todd to hunt me down.  You had to know that we would have to get you back.  It was inevitable, after the way you sent him after me.”

“What do you mean,” Dick asked, still confused.

Damian’s hand slid up to Dick’s shoulder, “You told Todd to hunt me in a way that would embarrass both of us.  Why did you not think about some sort of retribution when you were making your plan?”

“Why would you use a real employee’s name in your joke?”

“Because he’s in on it, too.  So is Jean.  I had to bring him in, in case he ran across you before Father called you in.  There were a few different ways this was going to play out.  This one is just the one we all agreed on.”

Bruce cleared his throat, “Alright.  You all have had enough fun for today.  Get back to work, before someone really has to get fired.”

Dick stood and addressed them all, “That wasn’t fun, that wasn’t a joke.  That was cruel, and…and I guess I deserved at least some of it.  This just means you will have to find a way to make it up to me later.”

Damian looked up at Dick from directly in front of the man and said, “I’m okay with that, Grayson.”

Dick slung an arm around Damian’s shoulders and walked out of Bruce’s office with him, saying, “You got your revenge.  Why do you look so sad, Damian?”

They stood waiting for the elevator as Damian said softly, “I don’t like seeing you cry.  It hurts me.  It hurts me even more to know that my joke made you cry.”

“I’m happy, too, Little D.  You and Jason worked together willingly on a civilian project.  Even if it was designed to put one over on me, the two of you were able to stand each other’s company long enough to accomplish something.”

Damian grinned at the ground and said, “He isn’t so bad.  Imagine what the two of us could do if we really liked each other.”

“I know you better than that, Damian.  If you didn’t like him, you wouldn’t have worked with him on this.”

Damian shrugged, “Technically, he worked with me.  I guess I do like him, but I really don’t know him.”

They walked into the elevator, and Dick pushed the button for his office, two floors down.  “Work on it, Damian.  You both are so worth it.  You might be surprised at how much in common you both have.”

_Three weeks later…_

“Here, Todd,” Damian said in a bored tone as he dropped an envelope on the desk in front of the man.

“Nice to see you, too, Damian,” Jason said sarcastically.

Picking up the envelope, Jason quickly looked over his paystub before sticking the envelope in his pocket.  Looking back up at the boy, Jason asked, “Since when do they have you delivering paystubs?”

Damian smirked and said sarcastically, “Just because they trust me more than you is no reason to get into a snit.”

Jason chuckled, “I think it’s debatable which one of us they trust more.  I _was_ hired to guard the place.”

Damian’s smirk grew, “So, they hired you to do something that Titus could be trained to do?”

“I should let Bruce know that you feel your Great Dane is the equal to your brother.”

Damian looked down and mumbled, “That’s not true, Todd.”

“It’s not,” Jason asked, his eyebrow rising.

“No,” Damian looked up with an evil gleam in his eye.  “Titus is far more enjoyable to be around.  He doesn’t have an attitude.”

Jason shook his head and said, “Boy, if we weren’t at work…”

“What’s wrong, rent-a-cop?” Damian interrupted, “Afraid I’ll find your vulnerable spots again?”

“I held back before.  I don’t feel a need to do that anymore.”

Damian smirked again, “ _Sure_ you did…what?”

Jason was looking over Damian’s head at four men that had just walked into the lobby.  They were shorter men, with either very close-cropped hair or shaved heads.  All four were looking around the lobby, and Jason thought they looked very uncomfortable in their matching suits.

“Hang on, Damian.  I have to go to work.”

Jason walked out from behind the security desk and approached the men.  Towering over them, Jason said, “Good afternoon, gentlemen.  Welcome to Wayne Tower.  Can I direct you to your destination?”

The four men didn’t answer as they looked around the lobby.  Jason gestured over to his desk and said, “If you’ll just step over to the security desk, I can get you checked in as visitors and get you on your way.”

One of the four men finally looked Jason up and down before saying “No” in heavily accented English.  All four men turned on their heels and marched out of the building.  Jason watched the group until they were out of the building before wandering slowly back to his desk.

“I wonder what that was all about,” Jason said.  He smirked and was about to comment on Damian sitting in his chair at his desk, until he saw the boy’s face.  Damian was pale and drawn, and looked like he had been hiding until just a second ago.

“Damian, what’s wrong?  Are you feeling alright?”

Damian’s jaw trembled as he looked up into Jason’s eyes.  “Those men,” he said shakily.

“What about them,” Jason looked concerned at Damian’s tone of voice.

“They were League.”

Jason looked back at the door, where the four men had exited the building and mumbled, “Wow.  Justice League must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel if that’s who they’re recruiting now.  I guess Supes will get around to inviting me to join sometime soon, then.”

“Not Justice League,” Damian whispered, “League of Assassins.”

The shock of the statement was the only thing that kept Jason from exclaiming loudly that it wasn’t possible.  “What are they doing here,” Jason whispered, astonished.”

“I don’t know, but it can’t be anything good.”

Jason turned and looked Damian in the eye.  “Are you sure?  How can you tell?”

Damian took a deep breath, “I’m sure.  I spent ten years with them, I know their undercover looks.  It’s them.”

“Well, we should…”

Damian cut him off, “They’re back.”

Jason looked up to see the same four men, now with a fifth person in the center of the tight formation, walk quickly towards the elevators.  Jason hustled away to intercept the group, meeting them just before they got to the elevators.

“Hi.  Maybe you didn’t understand me before, but you need to check in with security, so we know why you’re here.”

The tight group parted, revealing a dark-haired woman in their midst.  “Oh, it’s you.  Typical of my Beloved, wasting talent in menial positions.  You could have been so much more, Jason, if you’d just stayed with me.  Now, I do need to see Bruce, and you are going to let us by, because no matter how good you think you are, my bodyguards are better.”

Jason’s jaw was still hanging as he said, “Talia, what are you doing here?”

Ignoring the question, Talia raised an eyebrow.  “Are you going to move and allow me to see Bruce, or are my guards going to move you, and I still go to see Bruce?”

“He asked you a question, Mother,” Damian said, walking up to stand next to Jason, “And now I’m asking.  Why are you here?”

Talia shook her head.  “The ungrateful one.” 

She raised her right hand to signal to her guards to attack the enemy of the house of Al Ghul.  Knowing what was happening, Damian said, “Going to execute me, Mother?  Right here and now?  As an enemy of the house of Al Ghul, shouldn’t it be an Al Ghul that does the deed?  Or, are you unwilling to spill my blood yourself?”

Talia dropped her hand and hissed, “Don’t think this means you are safe.  If I didn’t have another purpose for being here right now, I would not hesitate.  Your death would only complicate matters right now, but rest assured, it _is_ coming, and it will be coming by my hand.  That doesn’t mean my guards couldn’t handle the both of you while I take care of my business with Bruce.  Now, are you going to move?”

“Do you really think I’m going to allow you to take assassins in to see my Father,” Damian asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I don’t see how you have a choice.”

Damian took a half step closer to Talia and said, “If I wanted them dead, Mother, they would be dead.  I haven’t changed _that_ much.  I’m not so different now that I can’t take out four assassins on a whim.”

Talia raised her left hand.  Damian caught a glint through the front window of the building, and followed it to the red laser dot on Jason’s forehead.  He sighed and said in a bored tone of voice, “Across the street, through glass, with a breeze and changing light conditions?  Tricky shot.  Are you sure you trust your shooter not to, say, miss and hit you instead?”

“Leave me to my business and we won’t have to find out.”

Seeing no other way out of their current situation, Damian pulled out his last thought.  “You want to see Father?  Leave them here with Todd, and you and I will go.”

“Damian, what are you doing,” Jason asked softly, still standing between the assassins and the elevators.

Frustration setting in, Talia acquiesced.  “Fine, I accept, but only because you are wasting my time.”

Talia walked past the two brothers, but stopped and turned violently when Damian reached out and snagged the pistol hidden at the small of Talia’s back.

“How dare you, you insolent little…”

“Come now, Mother,” Damian interrupted harshly, “you trained me better than that.”

Secretly, if she hadn’t declared Damian an enemy, she would have been proud of the ease with which he disarmed her.  Now, she was just annoyed.  She turned sharply and called for an elevator as Damian handed the pistol to Jason.

“Here, just to make things a little more even.”

Jason pocketed the weapon and whispered, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“So do I,” Damian whispered back as he followed Talia into the elevator.

The tension was thick in the elevator car as Mother and Son ascended through the building.

“You’ve grown,” Talia said.

“I’ve been told that happens as you get older.  What does that matter to you?”

“You are still my son,” Talia said softly.

_Does she sound hurt?_   “Not according to the last time we spoke.  ‘You’re no son of mine.’  Your words, Mother, yelled at me through a phone more than a year ago.”

Talia was silent for a long second before saying, “Be that as it may, half of your genetic material is mine.”

Before Damian could respond, there was a quiet ding, and the doors opened onto the executive lobby.  Jean, Bruce’s long time secretary, smiled at Damian as he stepped off the elevator.

“Hello, Damian,” the woman said in a friendly tone.

Damian blushed slightly and said, “Hello, Jean.  Is Father busy?”

“I’m afraid so, hon.  Who’s your friend?”

Damian bristled at the word, “Her name is Talia,” Damian said harshly, “She doesn’t have an appointment.  When will Father be available?”

Jean shook her head as she looked at the calendar on her computer screen.  “Not today, Damian.  He’s out at the meeting at McDonnell-Douglas all day.  He’s not coming in to the office today.”

Damian sighed, “That was today?”

Talia turned to Damian and demanded, “Who is this Douglas person, and why does he take precedence over me?”

Damian rolled his eyes, “It’s an aircraft manufacturer, not a person.  Father is negotiating a deal to make components for some of their planes.  That takes precedence over you because they were kind enough to make an appointment.”

“Watch your mouth, boy.  I can see your Father’s influence on you.”

Ignoring her, Damian turned back to Jean and asked, “He’s not coming in _at all_ today?”

Jean was concerned about Damian being with this woman.  Her hand began moving slowly towards the button for the silent alarm that was built into her desk.  Damian saw the movement and shook his head minutely.  Her hand stopped as she said, “No, he’s not.  He didn’t tell you that?”

“I didn’t see him this morning before he left for work.”

“Is everything okay, hon?” Jean asked, concerned.

Damian glanced up at Talia and said, “We’ll be fine.  Come on.”

Damian herded Talia back into the elevator.  As soon as the door closed, Talia asked, “How do I know that wasn’t all staged?”

“Jean has been Father’s secretary since before the two of you ever met.  Even so, she has no idea that he has a night life other than what is reported in the society columns.  She keeps Father’s work schedule just as well as Pennyworth keeps Father’s home schedule.”

Talia thought for a moment before saying, “Fine.  I will just wait for him at Wayne Manor.”

Damian turned to face Talia.  “You are not welcome in that house, and your guards will be killed if they set one foot on the property.  Give me a reason to even allow you to leave this elevator alive?”

Talia sighed, “I didn’t come to fight, Damian.  I need to see Bruce on a matter of importance.  You will not stand in my way.”

“You will not set foot in my home.  I don’t care what you need Father for, you will not see him there.”

Talia snarled, “I will do what I will, and a bastard like you can’t stop me.”

Damian took a step closer to Talia and spoke in a deadly serious tone.  “I can stop you.  I’ve become more than you made me to be.”

Talia looked at her son and saw a resolve behind his eyes that made her remember why she fell for Bruce in the first place.  She gave a slow, short nod and said, “It seems we are at an impasse.  What would you suggest?”

“You are not allowed at my home.  Father will come to you.”

Talia looked doubtful.  “How can you guarantee he will do that?”

Damian took a deep breath before saying, “I will go with you.  Father will come for me, and deal with you at the same time.”

“What is to stop me from killing you, Enemy of the House of Al Ghul?”

_I knew she would say that,_ Damian thought.  “You want to talk to Father.  He won’t listen to a word you have to say if he shows up and I’m in any worse condition than I am now.  However, if you wish, you may try to kill me.  Maybe it will pass the time more quickly.  You won’t succeed, because I’m better than you remember me being, but you may try.”

The elevator door opened on the lobby, to find Jason and the four assassins glaring at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.  Talia and Damian walked out, side by side.  The guards instantly fell in behind Talia as they walked towards the exit. 

Once Jason saw that Damian was not stopping as they left, he quickly caught up with Damian and said, “Hey.  Whoa.  What’s going on?”

Damian looked over at Jason, only slowing slightly.  “Tell Jerry that I am sick and have gone home.  Paystubs have all been distributed, yours was the last one in my stack.  Let Father know we’re waiting.”

Looking down, Jason saw Damian tapping his pocket lightly with one finger.  Jason could just make out the outline of Damian’s phone under the material. _Got it, track the phone._

Jason gave a slight nod as he played along, giving a confused look.  “Waiting where?”

“I don’t know yet,” Damian said, resuming speed as they exited the building and got into a black cargo van.

Jason walked back to his desk and immediately picked up the phone.  He dialed an extension, and the call was answered on the second ring.

“Dick Grayson.”

“Dick, we have a problem…”

Damian sat in the back of the van, rather surprised he hadn’t been tied up.  Damian snarked, “A van, Mother?  Has the League of Assassins fallen on hard times?  Is that why you need to see Father, to ask for a loan?”

From the seat in front of Damian, Talia responded tersely, “Don’t try my patience, boy.  My issues will only be discussed between me and my Beloved.”

“So, you’re finally admitting that you have issues?”

Talia reached out and backhanded Damian hard across the face.  Damian felt a sting as Talia’s ring left a scratch across his cheek.  “That’s enough out of you.  Just because you are still alive, doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to stay that way.”

Damian rubbed his cheek for a second before turning back to Talia, a bright red mark on his face.  “Father will give you nothing.  Not only will I make sure of that, but he is smart enough to see through whatever game you’re playing.”

“We’ll see about that,” Talia said silkily.

_Meanwhile…_

“Alfred.”

The butler smiled as he recognized the voice on the other end of the phone.  “Master Jason, this is a surprise.”

“I’m sorry to be rude, Alfred, but this is important.  Can you do me a favor?”

“Of course, young sir,” Alfred replied.

“Good.  Go downstairs and look by the computer.  We’re trying to find Damian’s phone.  It’s kind of urgent.”

Alfred sounded skeptical.  “Master Damian assured me he had his phone with him when I dropped him off this morning.  Was he lying to me?”

“No, we just need to find it.”

The butler asked, “Has he lost it?”

Jason had to stifle a snort of laughter, and only just barely succeeded.  “I’ve wondered about that myself, from time to time.”

“You are aware that the phone locator will only narrow the location down to the building, not which floor…”

Jason interrupted excitedly, “Yes!  If we can do that that would be great.”

_Something is going on.  Something he feels he can’t talk about on an open phone line._   “I’m sorry, Master Jason.  I’m going to have to change phones.  I will call you back in a minute.”

Alfred hustled down to the cave and picked up one of the secure lines.  As he dialed with one hand, he brought up the tracking program with the other.  He was entering Damian’s cell phone number into the tracking program when Jason answered the call.

“Master Jason, the line is secure and the tracer program is running.  Would you care to explain what is going on?”

Jason took a deep breath, “We can’t reach Bruce.”

“He is at his meeting all day today.”

“I know, I didn’t want to disturb him, so I told Dick.”

Alfred was starting to get confused.  “Told Master Dick what?”

Jason cringed as he said, “Talia is in town.  She came here to see Bruce, wouldn’t tell us why.”

“Has she done something with Master Damian?” Alfred asked nervously.  He was well aware of the state of unrest between Mother and Son.  Alfred had prayed that this day would never come.

“Not exactly?”

Alfred pressed, “Does he know she is here?”

“He’s with her.”

“What?” Alfred’s eyes tried to pop out of his head in shock.  “Did she kidnap him?”

“Not exactly?”

Alfred grew frustrated at the lack of forthright information being provided.  “Speak plainly, Master Jason!”

Jason sighed, “Talia came in with four guards, demanding to see Bruce.  Damian was able to talk her into going to see Bruce with just him, instead of taking the guards up to Bruce’s office.  I guess he forgot that Bruce isn’t in today.  They came back a few minutes later and walked straight out of the building.  Damian signaled me to track his phone to find out where they’re going.  He seems to think he’ll be safe until we can get him.”

“Have you attempted to contact Master Bruce?”

Jason shook his head, until he realized Alfred couldn’t see him.  “No.  Bruce is going to be pissed, but Damian did what he did to get a group of assassins out of Wayne Tower.  We can’t really blame him for that.  Damian only indicated to track him, not to contact Bruce.  Talia wants to see Bruce, so maybe Damian made a deal for Talia to hold off until she sees Bruce.  When is he going to be available?”

“Master Bruce’s meeting is scheduled until five.”

“Good.  The trace will be done long before then.  When Bruce gets home, send him to the location.  Send him, not…the other him.  Dick and I will figure something out to make the situation a bit more manageable.”

The butler sounded worried.  “Do you need anything in the meantime, Master Jason?”

Jason thought for a second.  “Um…I don’t think so.  Just let me know the location as soon as you have it.”

_Meanwhile…_

The van stopped at the Heights Boatyard, on the north side of the Gotham Docks, in front of a large, modern yacht.  Damian walked up the gangplank, his senses heightened as he entered what he could definitely call enemy territory.  Recognition flared as he realized he was entering the same vessel that had carried him to Gotham for the first time, almost three years ago.

Falling back into old habits that he thought he had left behind, Damian naturally followed Talia around the boat, noticing that the four guards that accompanied her to the tower were the only ones in sight.  They entered a stateroom, and Damian was surprised to see that Talia was startled when she turned around and saw her son.

Damian asked in a puzzled tone, “What?  Am I supposed to be locked up in the brig?”

Talia looked like she was considering it.  “No, I suppose you may stay.”

“Are you sure you want to be around your enemy?” Damian asked as he sat down.

“I can tolerate a short truce, if it gets Bruce here quicker.”

They sat in silence for several minutes until Damian finally turned to Talia.  Meeting her eyes, Damian asked softly, “Why did you disown me, Mother?”

Talia met his eyes for several seconds before she responded.  “Why did you turn your back on me, and on your upbringing?”

“I didn’t,” he said with a grimace, “If you remember, I asked you why the three of us couldn’t live together.  You were the one to make the ultimatum and leave.”

“This is not our lifestyle, Damian,” Talia said with a huff.  “This is not how you were raised.”

Damian cocked his head to the side slightly.  “Why not?  Why does it have to be either or?  Why is one better than the other?”

Talia began getting frustrated with the conversation.  “You were raised for a purpose.  You are not living up that purpose.  What’s more, you willfully chose to abandon what you were taught, our way of life.”

“But, you wanted me to meet Father.  You never would have told me about him if you didn’t want me to meet him.”

Talia narrowed her eyes in anger.  “Are you trying to blame me for your…disobedience?  You insolent little bastard.  What is so appealing about living with your father?  The League of Assassins can offer you far more than a paltry billionaire can.”

The comments hurt, but Damian tried not to show it as he fired back.  “Perhaps, but there is one thing that Father offers that is non-existent in the League of Assassins.”

“…And what is that,” Talia hissed.

Damian met her eyes and said plainly, “Love.  Father loves me.  Father has surrounded himself with others who love me.  He gave me a family.  My brothers are far more reliable than your guards.  Sure, they would die for you, but could you talk to them about a personal problem?  Will your assassins check in on you, just to see how you’re feeling?  I am accepted there.  Father’s love isn’t contingent on how many people I kill in a week.  It’s just there; just because I’m his son.”

Talia stared at her son, and was surprised to hear that his speech wasn’t filled with the condemnation that it could have been.  “Your father loves you.”

“Yes.  He does.  Despite everything I’ve done in the past, he does.”

“…And you believe that I don’t?”

Damian regarded his mother before he sighed and said, “I believe you may have at one time.  But now, I believe there is room for no one in your heart but yourself.”

Talia was taken aback.  She didn’t expect Damian to be able to make her feel like this anymore, but here she was, finding herself missing having this enemy in her life.  “If your Grandfather heard you say that, you wouldn’t have to worry about me killing you.  He would kill you, then throw you in a Lazarus Pit, then kill you again.”

Damian felt pain as the gulf between Mother and Son widened.  “How is Grandfather these days?”

“Well, as always.  He does get sad, occasionally, at the disappointment you turned out to be.”

Damian leaned forward a bit and said, “Tell me, does he approve of you naming me an enemy?”

“He did, eventually,” she admitted.  “He agrees that your unworthy ways would make for a poor leader of the League of Assassins.”

Damian winced internally and thought, _why am I doing this to myself?  I don’t need anything from her.  I’m just hurting myself in the long run, the more I talk to her._   Damian sighed shakily and said, “Since I am such a disappointment to you, and you will most likely kill me before the day is out, let me just make it complete.  Yes, I chose to live with Father over you, but only after you made it impossible for me to have both.  I never wanted to disappoint you, but I believe that nothing I do would have been good enough for you.  The only way I believe I could have pleased you would be to have killed you in order to supplant you.  Maybe then, I wouldn’t be a disappointment in your eyes.  Despite all that, I’ve missed you, Mother.  You have done everything you can to cut me out of your life, but I still hold out hope that you can learn, as I have.  I learned that there is more to life than ending it.  I wish you could learn that, as well.”

Talia was silent for a minute, and Damian hoped she was considering what he had said.  Eventually, he figured out his speech had fallen on deaf ears as she said, “I see.  You’re right, you have made my disappointment complete.  I am saddened that one so emotional, so…unworthy, was ever my offspring.  If we didn’t have an agreement of honor, you would be dead right now.”

Damian huffed.  “Why don’t you just do it, Mother?  Stop making excuses and kill me.  I won’t even try to stop you.  If killing me will make you happy, then do it.  No matter what you say or do, you are still my Mother, and I love you.  I just can’t live like you do anymore.  I’ve seen too much, experienced too much, to go back to that.”

Damian met her gaze for a minute before returning his gaze to his lap.  _Nothing I say gets through to her.  Why am I even trying?  It’s just going to hurt me, no matter what happens._

Talia stood and headed for the door, “If I’m going to listen to you prattle on about nonsense, then Bruce had better show up soon.”

Damian checked the time on his phone before saying, “It’s three-thirty.  Father’s meeting is scheduled until five.  He most likely won’t be here until six.”

“I suppose you expect me to feed you, as well?”

Damian smirked, despite his situation, “A good host would at least offer, but I don’t expect that from you.”

Talia’s eyes narrowed at the jab.  “Very well.  Stay here and make yourself quiet.  I’ve heard quite enough out of you.”

Talia slammed the door behind her as she walked out of the room.  As he heard the latch click locked, Damian released the breath he had been holding.  Leaning forward, he tried to keep from gasping for air.  This confrontation was far harder than he thought it would be.  _Hurry up, Todd.  Find me, I’m in over my head here._

_Meanwhile…_

Jason paced around the lobby of Wayne Towers, the minutes passing inexorably slow until his phone rang with Damian’s location.

_Short Stuff has his phone,_ Jason thought to himself for the third time, _why doesn’t he just call us with his location?  Why don’t I just call him?  Maybe he doesn’t want Talia to know he has it?_

Before he could ask himself anymore pointless questions, his cell rang.  It was Alfred calling.

“Hi, Alfred.  What do you have for me?”

The butler sounded simultaneously nervous and relieved.  “The tracer program has led to the extreme north side of the Gotham Docks region.  I believe there is a civilian harbor located there.”

Jason nodded to himself, “A boat would be the easiest way for her to get into the country.  Okay, can you send him a quick text, letting him know we found him?  I don’t know if he’ll get it, but we can’t let him think he’s alone.  I’m off in a few minutes; I had the early shift today.  I’ll head over there and see what I can see.  I’ll call Bruce, too.  It’s time to let him know he has another appointment tonight.”

Jason ended the call with Alfred and pulled up Bruce’s contact.  His finger hovered over the call icon for a few seconds before moving over to the text icon.  Quickly, he typed out, _‘Bruce, call me when you get a chance’,_ hoping that he wouldn’t interrupt his meeting too much.  He wasn’t expecting the phone to ring before he could get it back in his pocket.

“H-Hello?”

“Hi, Jason.  What’s up?”

Jason hesitated for a second, “…I’m not interrupting your meeting, am I?”

Bruce sounded relieved as he said, “No.  We’re taking a break.  We’re ahead of schedule, so I’m hoping to get out of here pretty soon.  What’s going on?”

Jason looked around the lobby, making sure no one would overhear him.  “Can you talk, Bruce?”

Bruce sounded suspicious, “Talk or… _talk_?”

“Um…the second one.”

“Hold on.  Let me get somewhere.”  The phone was silent for a minute as Bruce worked his way outside.  “Okay, go ahead, Jason.”

Jason took a deep breath before laying everything out.  “Okay, don’t get mad.  Don’t overreact.  Don’t react at all…”

“Jason,” Bruce interrupted, “Just tell me.  It can’t be that bad.”

Jason closed his eyes and winced as he said, “Talia is in town, looking for you.  She came to the tower today to see you.”

Bruce grumbled, “Shit.  Jason, do whatever you have to do to get her out of the building, before Damian sees her.”

“She’s already gone, Bruce.”

Bruce sighed, “Oh, thank God.  Listen, he can’t know that she’s here.  I don’t know what he’ll do if he finds out.  How are you doing, after seeing her?”

“I’m…I’m okay, Bruce.  Bruce, he knows.  He was in the lobby, talking to me when she showed up.”

Bruce swallowed hard, “Did he talk to her?”

“Yes.  He was instrumental in getting her, and her guards, out of the building.”

“Let me talk to him,” Bruce said.

Jason winced, “I can’t.  He, sort of, went with Talia.”

The line was silent for half a minute before Bruce said, “Jason, I can’t take jokes right now.”

“I wish I was joking.  We traced Damian’s phone to the Northern Docks.  Talia is waiting for you.  You, Bruce, not…anyone else.  I’m heading over there now, just to make sure everything is okay.  Get there as soon as you can, but don’t blow your meeting.  If it looks bad when I get there, I’ll call you.  If not, I’ll keep watch on the situation.”

“Thank you, Jason.  Don’t take any chances.  I want both of you back tonight.”

The call ended, and Jason walked out of the building, not questioning his perceived need to look after the Little Shit.

_Meanwhile…_

An hour after leaving Damian sitting alone in a secluded stateroom, Talia returned to the room.  She was surprised to find Damian sitting in the same chair where she left him.  He was looking at the screen of his phone with a far-off look, and didn’t react to her entrance.

“Is that your Father?  Is he on his way, so I can conduct my business?”

Damian didn’t look up as he said, “Huh?  Oh, no.  It’s not Father.”

“One of those insipid brothers of yours, then,” she said snidely.

A faint smile came to the boy’s face as he typed something into the phone.  He answered Talia distractedly, “No, it’s Robin.”

Talia sounded confused as she said, “I thought you went by that insufferable moniker.  Or, has my Beloved taken another to take your place?”

Not recognizing Talia’s attempt to insult him, Damian replied simply, “No, she’s my girlfriend.”

Talia’s jaw dropped in shock.  “Girlfriend?  Why didn’t I know about this?”

Damian finally looked up at Talia’s shocked expression.  “Why _would_ you know about it?  You haven’t taken an active, productive interest in my life in almost three years.  Besides, the only use that information could be to you would be so you could hunt her and her family down and kill them, in turn hurting me.  Why would I allow you to do that?”

Damian thought Talia looked slightly hurt.  “Is that all you think of me?”

Damian sighed and said, “’You are a disappointment to me.  I never want to see you again.  You are an Enemy of the House of Al Ghul, and I will see you dead if it is the last thing I do.’  Remember telling me that, when I called you on Mother’s Day, two years ago?  Yes, Mother.  That is what I think of you.”

“An hour ago you said you still loved me.”

Damian did his best not to sniffle as he said, a bit weakly, “I do, but I know what you’re capable of.”

Talia’s eyes narrowed before she turned back to the door.  “You better pray Bruce shows up soon.  Your time in my good graces is running out.”  The door slammed with an echoing finality that made Damian flinch sharply.

_Meanwhile…_

Jason parked at the pier and worked his way into what he thought would be a good observation point.  On this side of the harbor, the commercial docks and the civilian harbor blended into one.  Cargo containers were arranged in neat rows on the land, while mere dozens of feet away, luxury yachts and other various aquatic playthings of the wealthy were moored.

Jason climbed one of the last containers in line and aimed his binoculars at the nearest row of sleek, civilian watercraft.  One modern, dark gray hull caught his attention.  It wasn’t the largest thing in dock, but it attracted Jason’s eye as something that was obviously expensive, yet built to blend in, rather than stick out.  He also recognized the black cargo van parked in front of the watercraft as the same one Talia and Damian had climbed into outside of Wayne Tower.  A single guard walked across the deck, working his way through an orbiting patrol of the main exterior level of the boat.

Jason blew out a frustrated breath.  Just because the man wasn’t visibly, externally armed, didn’t mean he wasn’t armed.  Just thinking of how many blades Damian carried on his person on a daily basis reminded him of the opposition he was facing.  _There’s a lot of open space between me and the boat.  Even if I ran for it, I wouldn’t make it out of the shadow of this cargo container before I was noticed.  I wouldn’t make it half way to the boat before the guard could go inside, get a rifle, come back out, and drop me.  Damn it, Damian.  What were you thinking, going with Talia?_

With a prayer for luck slipping its way quietly through his lips, Jason left his perch and began his slow, stealthy journey across the half mile separating him from the sleek yacht.

_Meanwhile…_

Damian smiled as he read Alfred’s text message and made his first move in over an hour.  He got up and went to the window, overlooking the docks.  Looking out, he wondered where Jason was.  _Nothing’s moving that I can see.  He must either not be here yet, or he’s better at stealth than I give him credit for._

For an instant, the boy’s eye caught a flash off by the lines of cargo containers.  It could have just been the sun coming out from behind a cloud and catching a bit of unpainted metal on the top of the large box.  The flash only happened once, causing Damian to rethink his recollection.  It might have just been wishful thinking, a hallucination brought on by a combination of stress and hunger.  He was starting to regret his smart-ass comment about not expecting Talia to feed him.  When nothing else was visible for several minutes, Damian shook his head, convincing himself that he was just seeing things.

Damian watched as the guard walked in front of the window, making yet another lap on his endless patrol.  He smiled as he thought to himself, _maybe I should attack the guard.  I haven’t had a good workout in a while.  It would give Father one less obstacle when he comes for me._

Damian turned back to the room as his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Damian, I believe you are supposed to be at work.  I didn’t convince Jerry to give you a chance so you could take off whenever you want.”

Damian gave a relieved sigh.  “Hello Father.  I suppose this means you heard about your visitor?”

Bruce sounded off to Damian, but he couldn’t quite figure out what he was thinking.  “Yes, I did.  Damian, I don’t understand.  Why did you go with her?  Did she promise you something in return for you going to live with her?  Does she want you back?  Damian, I don’t want you to leave us.”

Damian slumped back in his chair again, finally able to read the pain in his Father’s voice.  He answered thickly, “Father, I’m not going anywhere.  I had to get her out of the building.  This was the only way I could think of to do it that would keep her from making trouble.”

There was an audible sigh from Bruce’s side of the conversation.  “You…you don’t want to be there?”

“Hell no, Father…HEY!”

Talia snatched the phone from Damian’s hand and walked across the room.  “Hello, my Beloved.  I trust you have been made aware of the fact that I need to see you right away?”

Bruce’s voice dropped almost into the Batman range.  “Talia.  What have you done with my son?”

Talia sniffed, “If I didn’t know better, Beloved, I would think you cared more about seeing him than seeing me.”

“I do, Talia.  If you harm him in any way, not even your League of Assassins will be able to protect you from me.  I will go to the ends of the Earth to avenge him, if you make it necessary.”

Talia’s voice dropped almost as low as Bruce’s as she said, “Then you better hurry up and get here.  There is only so much patience I have for the company of enemies.”

“You need to be careful, Talia,” Bruce growled.  “You need my cooperation to stay safe in this town.”

“And you should know that the only reason he is still alive is the promise of delivering you to me.  If you want him to stay that way, then you need to come and get him.”

“I’m on my way,” Bruce ground out in a voice so low that it grated on his throat.

Talia hung up the phone and shot Damian a glance over her shoulder.  “You’re in luck; he’s on his way.”

Talia swept towards the door and found a guard waiting for her.  Damian overheard the assassin say, “All is in readiness, Lady Talia.”

Talia gave a short nod and said, “Go.  I will signal you when it’s time to move.”

The guard bowed and left, leaving Damian to wonder what was really going on.  Just before the door closed, Damian spoke up.  “My phone, Mother?”

Talia looked at the device in her hand and threw it hard to the ground at the door.  The phone broke into three parts with a loud crack.  Even from across the room, Damian could tell that the device would never work again.  He looked back up at Talia as she said, “Never call me that again.  You get a pass this time, but only because Bruce is coming, as you promised.  I will not hesitate to kill you the next time we meet.”

Talia slammed the door to the stateroom as she walked out.  A second later, Damian knelt next to the shattered remains of his phone.  The glass screen fragmented and fell out of its housing as he gently picked up the pieces.  Damian sighed and thought, _I hope Father and Todd got a good fix on my location.  There’s no way they can get one now if they didn’t before._

_Meanwhile…_

Jason answered his cell phone on the first ring to hear Alfred’s breathless voice.  “Master Jason.”

“What is it, Alfred?”

“I’m afraid I’ve lost Master Damian’s phone signal.”

Jason’s eyes widened, and he looked towards the yacht from his new vantage point.  He had managed to approach to within one hundred yards of the vessel, but he was now looking at more of the stern of the craft.  His previous position had been centered at mid-ship.  Nothing looked different than it had the last time he had a view of the craft from cover.  “What do you mean, you lost the signal?”

Alfred shrugged, “The trace was holding steady, then it was gone.”

“Could he have turned the phone off?”

“No, Master Jason,” Alfred said firmly.  “I thought of that and tried a remote activation.  Nothing happened.”

“Dead battery, maybe,” Jason queried.

“Perhaps,” the butler agreed.

The phone beeped in Jason’s ear, signifying he was getting another call.  “Hold on, Alfred.  I’m getting another call.” He checked the screen, then said, “It’s Bruce.  I’ll call you back.”

Jason switched calls before Bruce could go to voicemail.  “Hi, Bruce.”

“Jason, are you at the dock?”

Jason thought Bruce sounded upset.  “I’m here.”

“How does it look?”

Jason sighed, _might as well tell him._   “Bruce, I was just talking to Alfred.  He said we just lost our connection to Damian’s phone.”

“I just talked to him, he was…well, he’s in with Talia.  He’s holding up as well as he can.  Talia took his phone to talk to me, she must have done something to it.”

Jason nodded, “Alfred tried remote activation; it didn’t work.  Talia must have done something to make sure it stopped working.”

Jason could picture Bruce running his fingers through his hair in frustration.  “Do you have a visual on Damian?”

He raised the binoculars to his eyes again and swept the boat from his less-than-ideal vantage point.  “I see a boat.  No one in sight except for a single sentry on patrol on deck.  Wait, scratch that.  I have a visual.  Upper stateroom window.  I can’t tell from this angle if he’s alone or not.”

“How does he look,” Bruce asked weakly.

Jason stared at the boy, not easily able to describe the look on the boy’s face.  After another minute, Bruce asked for an update again.  “He’s alone, Bruce,” Jason said with a sigh.

“How can you tell?  Did you change positions?”

“No,” Jason said sadly, “He’s crying, Bruce.  He wouldn’t do that in front of Talia.  What the hell is she doing to him in there?  Bruce, I’m going in.  We can’t leave him alone in there anymore.”

Bruce had to speak up quickly to stay Jason’s movements.  “No, Jason.  Hold your position.  I should be there in about twenty minutes.  The first thing I’m going to do when I get there is send Damian out.  He’s been alone with Talia for too long.  I want you to take him and leave.”

Jason interrupted Bruce.  “Hold on, Bruce.  We have movement here.”

Jason watched as three of the assassins walked down the gangplank and got in the van.  “The guards are getting back in the van.  Hold on a minute.”

The man put down his phone and binoculars and moved as close to the path of the leaving vehicle as he could get without being spotted.  He pulled a tracker chip from his pocket and flung it at the passing van.  It stuck without the occupants noticing.  He could tell they didn’t notice because the van drove on without slowing in the slightest.

Jason returned to his phone and said, “Sorry about that.  I got a tracker on their van, so Alfred can let us know where they’re going.  We’ve only seen four guards, and three of them just left.  The fourth is walking patrol on the deck.  Bruce, I need to hit somebody.  I’m going to take out that last guard.  Maybe I can get a message to Short Stuff while I’m at it.”

“Be careful, Jason.  Don’t be seen.”

Jason smirked, “Only by Damian.”

Jason hung up his phone and followed the guard with his binoculars for a couple trips around the deck.  Once he had the guard’s timing memorized, Jason worked his way into the shadow of the craft.  After watching the guard for two more patrol loops, he made his move.  He swept silently onto the deck behind the assassin and threw a blindsided haymaker that heavily stunned and staggered the guard.  Jason followed it up with a nerve strike designed to knock the man out for several hours.  Just to be safe, he bound the man’s hands behind his back and checked him for weapons.  He removed an impressive arsenal from the unconscious assassin, including a wicked-looking dagger that he thought Damian might like and a set of finely balanced throwing knives that he planned to keep for himself.

Checking his immediate surroundings, Jason found no other guards on the deck, nor in any of the open spaces that he dared to check without risking setting off any alarms.  The only thing he could see was a distraught-looking Damian, still staring out at the dock area.  As far as he could tell, his youngest brother hadn’t seen him incapacitate the guard.  An evil grin crossed Jason’s face, and he turned back to the fallen guard.  Standing the man up, he walked the guard past the window, doing his best to stay out of sight, below the windowsill.  He then walked the unconscious guard back across the window in the opposite direction, stifling his laugh as he caught Damian’s confused expression.  When he walked the guard by a third time, this time having the man appear to be walking backwards, Damian had his face pressed against the window.  Jason flopped the unconscious man against the window, causing Damian to recoil back.  Jason dropped the guard, who slid slowly to the deck, and stood up and smiled at the youth.

A look of genuine relief washed over the boy’s features for a second.  Jason returned the smile and signed ‘Bruce will be here in ten minutes’ in sign language.  Damian looked at the man questioningly, so Jason repeated his signed message, a bit more slowly.  Again, Damian looked like he didn’t understand was Jason was trying to say.  Jason looked frustrated as he tried to find another way to communicate with the boy.

Damian reached over and cracked the window open and said softly, “What’s all that flailing for, Todd?”

“You know exactly what I was trying to say, brat,” Jason hissed.  “We lost your signal; what happened to your phone?”

Damian looked at the door and mumbled, “Talia smashed it.”  Jason looked down and saw the remnants of the device held in the boy’s hand.  Damian continued, “You can’t be caught here, Todd.”

“Hang in there, Damian.  It’s just a few more minutes.”  Damian nodded and closed the window as Jason ghosted back to the dock.

Damian stared out of the window for several minutes after Jason left, having lost sight of his second oldest brother almost as soon as he left the boat.  He was now watching for Bruce to arrive when Talia’s reflection swam up behind him.

“Well?  Punctuality was one of the things my Beloved was known for.  Where is he?”

Damian snorted in disgust.  “Maybe he is just postponing the moment when he actually has to see you again?”

“Damian.”

Surprised by the use of his name, and the soft tone of voice, Damian turned from the window, only to be met with a sharp slap to his face.  Talia’s fingernail caught the scratch from before, making the strike sting just a bit more.  He was taken by surprise by the strike, even though he felt he shouldn’t have been.  Even so, he bit his tongue when the slap connected, and was tasting the coppery tang of blood.  Glaring at the woman who used to be his mother, he looked down and spat a small amount of blood on the pristine white carpet.

The boy asked, “Was that necessary, Talia?”

“Show some respect, ingrate.  I hold your life in my hands.”

“Respect is earned, not granted,” Damian stated.  “I had to learn that the hard way over the last couple of years.  Maybe it’s a lesson that you need to learn, too.”

“You watch your tone, bastard,” Talia hissed.

“Where did the guards go?”

Talia was so distracted by the question that she physically flinched as she tried to adjust to the change in topic.  “What?”

“I saw them get into the van and leave.  I doubt they went for burgers, so they must be going to do something on your order.”

Still reeling from the shift, Talia said, “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

A slow grin crossed Damian’s face.  “They went back to Wayne Tower, didn’t they?  You’re not sure you can talk whatever you’re here for out of Father, so you sent them to just steal it.  What is it?”

An infuriated growl escaped Talia’s mouth as she pulled a dagger from her sleeve.  Walking slowly towards Damian, she said, “I have had enough of you.  Your father be damned; you will not leave here alive.”

Damian sighed as he drew a matching dagger from his own sleeve, from a sheath strapped to his forearm.  “This is the way it was meant to be, isn’t it?”

Damian moved away from the wall to give himself room to maneuver as he faced off with Talia.  Behind him, the door opened, and a new voice broke into the stand-off.

“Stop this at once.  Is this any way for the two of you to act?  This is not the way to talk me into anything, Talia.”

Talia left her combat crouch at the sight and sound of Bruce.  “Hello, my Beloved.  It’s about time you got here.”

Ignoring her, Bruce walked up to Damian and placed his hands on tense shoulders.  “Son?  Are you okay?”

Damian twirled his knife, sliding it back into the wrist sheath.  His eyes never left Talia as he said, “No, Father.  I’m a lot of things right now.  Okay is not one of them.”  Turning, he looked up into Bruce’s eyes and said pleadingly, “Take me home, Father, please.  There is no reason to remain here.  She just wants to extort something from you.  She sent her assassins back to…”

“Shut your fucking mouth, you worthless little bastard,” Talia interrupted the boy, screaming at the top of her lungs.  “No one gave you permission to speak!”

Bruce was glaring at Talia as Damian took a step closer to the larger man.  “Damian, I want you off this boat, right now,” Bruce said, far more calmly than he felt.  “I’ll take care of this.  You should know where to go.”

Damian nodded shakily and headed for the door.  Talia called out as Damian entered the hall.  “Know this, spawn.  You will die the next time we meet.”

Damian sighed and replied harshly, “So be it, Talia.”

Damian stepped off the gangplank and looked around.  Everything seemed alien to him after the way his world had shifted in the last few hours.  His hands were shaking as he headed for Bruce’s car, parked nearby.

He stopped at the sound of a powerful engine, and watched as a blue Chevrolet Silverado came barreling past a row of cargo containers and headed straight for him.  Scared and shaking, emotionally raw and overwhelmed, Damian froze in place as the vehicle approached.  He bit his lip to keep it from shaking as the truck turned.

The passenger window rolled down to reveal Jason driving the truck.  He called out, “Come on, get in, let’s go.”

Unable to process anything else, Damian stumbled towards the vehicle.  Climbing in, he was barely able to fasten his own seatbelt without assistance.  Jason looked at Damian critically as he drove away.  The boy was staring at his lap, not seeming to see anything as he chewed on his lower lip in an imitation of Dick’s nervous gesture from his childhood, trying to hold his emotions together.

“What happened in there, Damian,” Jason asked softly.

Startled, Damian answered without looking up, “Talia happened.”

“Talia?”

“Yeah,” Damian answered, confused.

“Not ‘Mother’?”

A strangled sob escaped the boy as he said, “Not anymore.  It’s not a cold war between us anymore.  She…she wants me dead.”

“Damian?”

Damian still hadn’t looked up.  “I just wanted to understand.  Father accepts me, why can’t she?  I had to try.  She’s my mother, I had to try.”

Jason noticed Damian had started shaking.  “Had to try what?”

Damian finally looked over at Jason.  “To convince her.  She doesn’t have to be what she is.  I changed, she can change.  She just has to want it…to want me.” Damian’s tone fell, along with his gaze, “But she doesn’t.  Not anymore.  If she can’t control me, then I’m dead to her, and if she sees me again, I’ll just be dead.”

Damian’s breaths were coming shallow and ragged.  Jason could do very little for him while going fifty miles per hour through a dock yard.  He pulled over and reached a hand over to grip the boy’s shoulder.  Damian turned red-rimmed eyes to meet his elder brother’s.

“I’m sorry you lost your mother, Damian,” Jason said softly.

The dam broke on Damian’s emotions, and he couldn’t hold back anymore.  He collapsed in on himself as Jason unbuckled the boy and dragged him over the center console and into a tight hug.  Jason himself had been comforted by Dick enough times in his youth that he felt pretty sure he was offering a fair approximation of the gesture.  However, Damian’s pained breathing intensified into grunts and growling, which grew louder and fiercer.

“Damian, I know it hurts, but we will get you through this.  We all are here for you.  You’re not alone.”

“WHY?!?” Damian screamed into Jason’s chest.  “Why did I do this?  I know what she’s like.  I did this to myself.  I chose to go with her.  I chose to talk to her and try to convince her.  I tried to tell myself to stop, but I couldn’t stop talking to her.  I knew it would just hurt me.  Why couldn’t I stop?  Why did I do this to myself?  Why couldn’t I just let it lie, and not push it with her?”

Jason took a deep breath and looked into Damian’s eyes.  The boy was close to hyperventilating in the throes of a panic attack.  He said softly, “Because you’re a good son.  You found a better way of life, and you wanted to share it with her.  Talia wasn’t ready to hear it, and she may never be ready, but you tried.  You reached out to her because it was the right thing to do.  Bruce will be proud of you.”

They were silent for a couple minutes before Damian was able to move back to his own seat.  “Th…thank you, Todd.  I’m…I’m sorry I lost it like that.”

Jason patted the boy’s arm. “It’s okay, Damian.  It’s been a rough day.  Now, we have two options.  I can take you home if you want.  That is what Bruce told me to do with you.  Or, I don’t know if you saw them, but the rest of the guards left some time ago.  I need to find out where they went and what they’re up to.  I was able to get a tracker on the van, so Alfred can get their location for us.”

Damian’s eyes narrowed as he said, “I saw them leave, too.  They went back to Wayne Towers.”

Jason read grim determination on Damian’s face and asked, “How do you know that?”

“I figured it out.  I asked Talia where they were going.  I guessed that she isn’t sure that she can sweet talk Father into giving her whatever she wants.  I think she is just going to try to steal it.”

“Steal what, though?”

Damian shook his head, growling again, “I don’t know.  As soon as I mentioned them going back to the Tower, she tried to kill me.  Father walked in and stopped her before she could do more than pull her knife.”

Jason started driving again, heading back across town to Wayne Tower.  “Okay.  Call Dick, he should still be at work.  Have him look out for the van, and intruders.”

Damian stared incredulously at Jason for almost a minute before saying, “How?  Did you forget the part where Talia smashed my phone?”

Jason blushed slightly, “Oh, yeah.  I guess I did.  Here.”

He pushed several buttons on the steering wheel to bring up the voice commands for the Bluetooth for his phone.  Dick’s phone rang twice before he answered the unfamiliar number.

“Um…Hello?”

Damian didn’t waste any time with pleasantries.  “It’s us, Grayson.  Watch out for a black cargo van.  There are assassins in it, headed back to the Tower.”

“Security just contacted me.  The van is parked in front of the building.  They wanted to know what to do with it.”

Damian and Jason looked at each other for a second before saying at the same time, “Tow it.”

Jason continued, “We’re on our way back now.  We should be there in just a few minutes.”

Dick sounded worried, “We can handle this without you two.  Tim and I can handle three assassins.”

Damian looked straight ahead, a stony expression on his face.  “Normally, I would say go ahead, but not this time.  Do not engage these assassins.  These are Talia’s personal guard.  You and Drake are outmatched, you can’t handle them.  They’re mine.”

“…Are you sure about that, Damian?”

“Todd and I will take care of them.  You and Drake are to try to track them until we get there, and clear out whatever floor they are on.”

Dick sounded exasperated, “Do we at least know what they’re looking for?”

“No,” Damian grumbled, “I couldn’t get that out of Talia.”

“Are you okay, Damian?  You don’t sound like yourself,” Dick said.

“Of course I’m not okay,” Damian growled, “What am I supposed to sound like?”

“I don’t know.  You sound like…”

“Like what, Grayson,” Damian interrupted, snapping at his brother.

Dick sighed, “You sound like you did when you first came to us.”

_He’s right,_ Damian thought to himself.  _He’s right, and I don’t like it._   “It’s been a…a trying day, Grayson.”

“You’re going to explain that later, Little D.”

Damian sighed, “I’m sure Father will want to hear all about it as well.  We’ll have story time for you before bed tonight, okay?”

“One last question.  Why do you just want Jason on this?  All four of us together ought to be able to take out three assassins.”

“You and Drake have never faced these kinds of assassins before.  Todd has, and I used to be one.  I’m not putting either you or Drake in anymore danger than you’re already in.”

“We’re pulling up now, Dick,” Jason said.

“We’ll meet you in the lobby,” Dick replied before hanging up the phone.

Several minutes later, the four brothers gathered around the security desk in the lobby of Wayne Tower, reviewing footage from the security cameras.  They tracked the three assassins from the moment they entered the building, until they entered the elevator and pushed the button for the ninth floor.

“What’s on the ninth floor, Grayson?”

Dick smirked, “Don’t you have the building memorized by now?  You’ve been working here for almost a month.”

His voice rising, Damian said, “We don’t have time for this.  What’s up there?”

“R&D,” Jason said.

“What are they working on right now?”

It was Jason’s turn to smirk.  “How should I know?  I’m just a security guard.”

Damian growled, “Maybe you all don’t realize this, but those are quite possibly three of the most dangerous men to ever enter this building, with the exception of me.  If you don’t want to have to explain a bloodbath to the police, I need straight answers to my questions.”

The previous Robin’s looked at each other before Dick said, “It’s a government contract.  Top secret.  I just know that it’s going on, not what’s being developed.”

Damian huffed, “Whatever it is, it’s important enough for Talia to send her personal guard to steal it.”

Dick looked at Damian quizzically and opened his mouth to speak, but Jason cut him off with a look.  “What do you want to do, Damian?”

Damian looked around the lobby as workers made their way out of the building, heading home for the day.  “Let’s get to the ninth floor.  Maybe we’ll get lucky and there won’t be too many workers there.”

Damian walked off, with Tim trailing close behind.  Jason held Dick back for a second and met the older man’s eyes.  “He’s hurting, Dick.  He’s hurting bad.”

“What happened today?”

“Talia happened,” Jason said, echoing Damian’s line for lack of a better descriptor.

“We can deal with that.  We’ve dealt with her before.”

Jason shook his head, “No, Dick.  It’s different this time.  Bruce is probably the only one who can help him right now.  We need to make sure Damian and Bruce get together after this is all over.”

Jason and Dick caught up to Damian and Tim as the elevator doors opened.  The brothers entered the lift car and Damian pushed the button for the eighth floor.  Tim pointed out, “Damian, they’re on the ninth floor.”

“I know that, Drake.  We’re not going to tip them off that we’re coming.  We go to the eighth floor and take the stairs up to the ninth.  When we get up there, Grayson, Drake, you clear anyone out who hasn’t left for the day yet.  Grayson, you watch the elevators and make sure no one gets off on this floor.  Drake, you do the same for the stairs.  Todd and I will handle the assassins.”

Dick spoke up.  “We don’t have comms, so stay alert up there.  Don’t be afraid to shout if you need help.”

The plainclothes Bats slipped into the ninth floor silently.  Dick and Tim peeled off to work on their assignments as Jason and Damian ghosted into the lab.  Soon, Jason tapped Damian on the shoulder and held up three fingers before pointing at the next row of work stations.  Damian nodded and signaled for Jason to go around one way, while he went the other.

Damian snuck up behind two of the assassins, who were trying to hack into a computer station.  “You’ll never get in that way.  It’s locked with an iris scanner.  You need the eyeball of an approved lab tech to access the system, and I know for a fact that the League of Assassins doesn’t have that good of a hacking program.”

The two assassins shot to their feet, while the third tried to approach stealthily from Damian’s left.  Damian knew he was there.  He also knew that Jason was stalking the third man, and would reach him before the assassin could come close to the boy.

His guess was a little off, as the third assassin launched a throwing knife at the boy.  In one motion, Damian turned, caught the knife, and sent it on a return path to the thrower.  The knife buried itself deeply in the assassin’s shoulder.  The impact turned the man and sent him to his knees.  However, Damian didn’t have time to worry about that particular attacker, as the other two rushed him.  The ex-assassin soon found himself completely defensive as he blocked a rapid-fire series of punches and kicks that would have overwhelmed anyone who hadn’t had his lifetime of training.

In an unexpected move, Damian launched himself forward, between his attackers, in a rolling dive that took him away from the assault and allowed him a second to regroup.  A quick glance to his right showed Jason and the third assassin locked in combat.  Even wounded, the assassin was giving Jason all he could handle.

Damian changed his tactic set when he saw that he would be getting no extra help anytime soon, and focused all his attention on one combatant, hoping to overwhelm him and remove him from the fight.  In order to create some space to work with, Damian launched a low sweep at one opponent.  The move worked, surprising the boy and sending the assassin to his back.  Damian could now focus on just one opponent for the few seconds he would have until the fighter rejoined the battle, but both combatants stopped fighting when a resounding, metallic gong echoed through the lab.  Both fighters looked over to see Jason slumping to the floor next to a large, steel storage cabinet.  Damian thought sickly that the new dent in the door of the cabinet was too close in size and shape to Jason’s head.

The pause in the action was enough for the trio of assassins to surround the child.  His confidence from earlier was eroding quickly as, for the first time today, he thought that there was a possibility he wouldn’t survive this encounter.

Damian took a quick step back and launched a kick at the third assassin.  He aimed right, and hit the handle of the throwing knife, which was still stuck in the man’s shoulder.  The knife drove deeper into flesh and muscle, leaving just half an inch of handle exposed, while the tip dug painfully into the assassin’s shoulder blade.  The combination of pain and blood loss sent the man dizzily to his knees.  Damian turned to face the man fully and delivered a sharp knee to the man’s face.  The assassin’s nose broke with a spray of blood, and the would-be thief collapsed backwards, unconscious.

Damian turned back to the other two assailants, and his eyes tried to bug out of his head.  One man was charging him, while the other was pulling throwing knives from a hidden sheath on his back.  He was soon engaged in fierce hand to hand combat with a man who, Damian had to admit, was much stronger than himself.  He was barely able to block the incoming blows with the power in which they were sent at him.

One punch carried more force that Damian was ready for, and he was tagged with a strong blow right above his left cheek bone.  The existing scratch from Talia’s repeated assaults now split open, and leaked a thin rivulet of blood down the boy’s cheek.  The punch also dazed Damian, and sent him staggering a couple steps to his right.  Expecting more punches, Damian threw his arms up to block and protect his face until his head stopped spinning.

The blows never came, and Damian looked up in time to see the man slump lifelessly to the floor, two throwing knives buried deep in his chest.  Damian stared in shock as the last vestiges of life left the assassin’s open, glassy eyes, and the man shuddered out his last breath.  _Those knives were meant for me,_ Damian thought.  _If he didn’t hit me right then, then those blades would be sticking out of my back, instead of his chest._

Damian and the final assassin squared off, this one far more calculating and cautious in his approach to his enemy.  The stand-off lasted a second longer than it should have, and a war cry pierced the silence of the research lab as Jason charged the last killer.  He hit the man like a linebacker making a ferocious tackle, picking the startled man up as he drove three steps through his opponent.  Switching sports, Jason took a page from the WWE and power bombed the man to the floor, slamming the assassin’s back to the ground as hard as he could.  There was a satisfying, hollow thunk as the now-unconscious assassin’s head bounced off of the unforgiving tile floor.  Both Bats swept the room, but their adversaries were not moving, and the lab was empty.

Damian took a deep, steadying breath before saying, “Thank you, Todd.  Um…how’s your head?”

“Not too bad,” Jason said with a smirk, “There are only two of you standing in front of me now.”

Damian snorted, “Well, thank you for tackling the right one.”

Jason approached and pushed Damian’s head to the side, at an angle, to inspect the still seeping cut to the boy’s cheek.  “How’s your face?  It must be hurting you, since it’s hurting me just to look at it.”

Damian looked up and sighed, “Is now really the time to try a joke, Todd?”

Jason shrugged, “Dick’s not here, or he would have said it.  I’m just trying to fill your ‘stupid Dick remark’ quota for the day.  But seriously, how does it feel?”

Damian shrugged, “It’ll be sore tomorrow.”  He looked around the lab and asked, “How do we explain all this?”

“To whom?” Jason asked.

“To anybody.”

“You don’t.” A new voice sounded in the lab.  “Neither of you two are here, and you have no idea that anything happened here today.  Security footage is being scrubbed as we speak.  You don’t explain any of this.  I do.”

“Father.”  Damian ran over to the speaking man and wrapped himself tightly around the man. 

Bruce held his son for a minute before pushing him back to arm’s length and looking the boy over.  He examined the cut to Damian’s cheek, and could already see some bruising and swelling where he had been punched.  Running a finger under the cut, Bruce asked, “Are you alright?”

“Um…physically?”

Bruce sighed, “I understand, son.  What little Talia told me, it seems like a…a rough day.”

“Yes, Father.  What are we going to do about all this?  I mean, that one over there is dead.”

Bruce met Damian’s gaze, “Did you kill him?”

Shocked, Damian replied, “No, Father.  I did everything I could not to kill anyone.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about.  It’s almost late enough that this can be an act of Batman.”

Damian was confused, “How, Father?”

Bruce thought for a second before saying, “Batman has been tracking these assassins for a while now, ever since they made landfall.  He finally caught up to their plan when they moved to steal the prototype.”

Jason walked up, interested in the conversation.  “What were they here for, Bruce?  Did Talia tell you?”

Bruce nodded, “Yes.  We’ve been developing something called a Solex Agitator for the government.  It amplifies the effects of solar panels.  A current set of solar panels can power your average house with some left over.  That same set of solar panels equipped with a Solex Agitator can power the entire neighborhood, with enough left over to keep the streetlights on for days at a time.  It will revolutionize the energy market.  Talia wanted it for her own use, to corner the market and make a very large fortune.  The only problem is, the development team finished early.  The prototype was delivered to the government three days ago.”

One of the assassins started groaning as he began to wake up.  “Jason, knock him out again, then tie them up.  I want you to stay with them until I can go home and change, okay?”

Damian looked at Jason, as he walked over and kicked the groaning man in the head, then back up at Bruce.  “Father, can Grayson or Drake do that?  I…I…”

Bruce asked gently, “Do you want me to take you home, Damian?”

There was only a hint of a whine in the boy’s voice as he said, “Can Todd take me?”

Bruce looked up at Jason as he came back to the Father and Son pair.  He obviously heard the request, because he nodded at Bruce.  Bruce said, “Sure, son.  I want to talk to you later, though.”

“I want to talk to you, too, Father.”

Bruce nodded, “I’ll make it a short patrol tonight; just long enough to call the Commissioner out to pick up these assassins.  I’ll be home in a couple hours.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Damian said softly.

Tim walked into the lab, having overheard the conversation, and having lost the rock-paper-scissors with Dick.  “I’ll watch them, Bruce.”

“Thanks, Tim,” Bruce said.

As Bruce, Jason, and Damian walked out of the lab, Damian stopped in front of his next oldest brother.  “Thank you, Drake,” Damian whispered, before turning and catching up with the rest of the family at the elevator.

Pulling out of the Wayne Tower underground parking structure, Jason asked, “Any reason why you wanted me to drive you?  I would have figured you would have jumped at the chance to ride home with either Bruce or Dick.”

“You needed to come home,” Damian replied simply, not looking at Jason.

“I would have gone home,” Jason said, wondering if Damian meant what he thought he meant.

Damian rolled his eyes, “You know what I mean, Todd.  This isn’t a time for any of us to be apart.”

“…You want me there?”

Damian finally looked at Jason as they waited at a red light.  “You’ve had dealings with Talia before, too.  Today isn’t only affecting me.  She has the ability to tear everything apart, everything we’ve worked so hard to…to put behind us.  She can’t be allowed to do that.”

Jason thought for a minute before saying, “I guess you could say that she is responsible for bringing both of us into the world.  It may be the only redeeming thing she has done.  For what it’s worth, I’m glad she did.”

“You’re wrong, Todd,” Damian said quietly, “Bringing me into the world was not a redeeming act on Talia’s part.”

“No?”

“No,” Damian shook his head, “Bringing me to Gotham, however, letting me meet Father, and the rest of you, I guess…that was a redeeming act.”

Jason sounded confused, “Why isn’t bringing you into the world a redeeming act?”

“Because she raised me to be just like her.  I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not a good person, but I’m trying.  I wouldn’t have tried if I never came here.”

The vehicle was silent, both of its occupants thinking hard as the truck moved into the foothills.  Jason finally said, “You’re right.  Allowing you a chance to change _is_ a far more redeeming act.  Whether she meant to do it or not, I’m glad she did.”

“Thank you, Todd.  I…I’m glad she did it, too.”

_Three Days Later…_

Following a long, drawn out conversation with Bruce, and excessive cuddling from Grayson, Damian finally found some time alone to do one of the many things that had been on his mind since the incident with Talia.  Damian powered on his new phone and saw the long list of messages and missed calls.  He winced when he saw just how many of them were from Robin.  He felt like an idiot for not calling her sooner, but he and Bruce had just returned home from buying his new replacement phone.

Skipping the texts and voicemails, Damian selected Robin’s speed dial contact and placed the call, hoping to hear the angelic voice he had missed over the past few days.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Robin.”

“Oh.  It’s you.”  Robin’s tone of voice was icy as she recognized the boy’s voice, and Damian flinched at the undertone of hurt he heard.

“Yeah, it’s me.  Listen…”

She interrupted him, “Why should I?  You fall off the face of the Earth in the middle of a conversation and reappear three days later.  What am I supposed to think about that?  What did I do or say wrong?  You can at least explain _that_ to me.”

Damian felt terrible as he said, “Please, Robin.  I’m trying to explain.  And I’m sorry.  You didn’t do anything wrong, I did.  This is all my fault.  Can I please try to explain what happened?”

The line was silent for a minute before Robin spoke in a hurt tone, “I was worried about you, you know.  This had better be good.”

Damian released the breath he had been holding.  “Okay.  I’ll explain what happened, and it will also answer a question you’ve asked me a couple times.  One that I’ve…kinda…been avoiding.  You see…well, the short version is that my phone got…well, smashed.  I didn’t call you later because I was stupid enough to not write your number down.  I had it in my phone, but I didn’t have a backup.  I didn’t get a new phone until about an hour ago. I just got home with it; you’re my first call on the new phone.  They were able to transfer my contacts to the new phone.  That’s how I was able to call you.”

“Your phone got smashed?” Robin asked, disbelieving, “And you expect me to believe that?  Hello?”

There was a beep on the line, which Robin thought meant that Damian had hung up on her.  She looked at the screen of her phone and saw a text from Damian, and the call timer was still counting.  Robin opened the text and saw a picture of Damian’s old phone, sitting in several broken pieces on the boy’s desk.

“Damian?”

“Now do you believe that there was no way my phone could have made a call?”

Robin answered shakily, “Yeah, I guess.  So, you did want to call me?  What happened?”

“Believe me, the only time I stopped thinking about you was when I was trying to sort everything out.”

“What did you have to sort out?” Robin asked.

Damian winced, but had known all along that he would have to explain.  “Ta…My mother was in town.”

There was a shocked inhalation on the other side of the call.  “Your mother?  You’ve never talked about her.  When do I get to meet her?”

Damian’s eyes bulged in panic, and he said quickly, “You don’t!  You should pray that you never meet her.”

Robin sounded lost at the cryptic answer.  “Damian, I don’t get it.  She’s your mother, she has to be important to you.  I like to think that I’m important to you, too.  Why wouldn’t you want us to meet?”

Wincing again, Damian answered, “This is probably going to sound horrible, but you are far more important to me than she is.”

Another shocked gasp followed his statement.  “Damian, how can you say something like that?”

“Because she isn’t a good person.  She’s not like your mom.  She’s not…warm, or caring, or sometimes even human.  She never wanted to be a mother, and if she gets her way, she will no longer be a mother.”

“Then why did she come to see you,” Robin asked in a confused voice.

Damian said bitterly, “She didn’t come to see me, she came to see Father.  He just happened to be busy at the time.”

Robin sighed, “I feel like you’re not telling me everything.”

_If only she knew just how much I was hiding from her,_ Damian thought.  “Let me start from the top.  I was at work when she came in.  Father was out of the building at a meeting all day.”

“Wait, why were you there when your Dad wasn’t?”

Damian thought the answer was obvious.  “It’s a job.  I work there.  I can’t just not show up on a day that I’m scheduled to work.  Okay, I guess I could, but that wouldn’t be good, especially since it’s not just Father’s name on the side of the building, it’s mine, too.  I’m learning a lot there, and…it’s fun.  Anyway, she came in to see Father.  When I told her that he wasn’t there, she demanded I call him out of his meeting to talk to her.  I told her I couldn’t do that, but I agreed to go back to where she was staying to wait for him.  It was stupid to go with her, but I thought I could convince her to get over whatever hatred she has for me.”

“She’s your mother.  Even if she didn’t want to be a mother, how can she hate her son?

Damian sighed, “She hates me because, when given the choice, I chose to live with Father, and have tried to convince her to do the same.  She feels like I have turned my back on everything she ever taught me.  To be fair, I have, but it was for the best.  She’s not a good person, like I said, and if I stayed with her, I would have turned out just like her.”

“How can you know that she hates you?”

Damian closed his eyes as the pain started again.  “She tells me, multiple times, every time we talk or see each other.  Anyway, when we were texting, she came in, snatched the phone from me, and demanded to know who you were.  To keep you safe from her, I wouldn’t tell her any more than your first name, and that we’re happy together.  She got mad and walked out.  When I asked for my phone back, she smashed it.  After that, we got into a bit of an argument, during which she told me, in no uncertain terms, that she wished I were dead, I was never to refer to her as ‘mother’ again, and she hoped to never see me or talk to me again.  Then she hit me.”

Robin gasped, “She hit you?  Has she ever done that before?”

“Yes,” Damian said quietly.  “She has left more than enough scars behind on me after her beatings.”

“…Beatings?”

“I told you, she isn’t a nice person.”

Robin’s phone beeped again.  She had another picture text from Damian.  This one showed his face, with a large bruise and a healing cut to his cheek.  The girl asked quietly, “She did that?”

“Yes,” he lied.

“Why did she even come, then, if this is all she did?”

“She wanted Father to hand over some government project that the company has been working on.  When he wouldn’t, she sent her bodyguards to Wayne Tower to steal it.  The guards are in jail, and Talia has fled the country.”

The line was silent for a minute before Robin whispered, “Oh, Damian.  I feel so bad.  I’m so sorry.”

“Why do you feel bad, Robin?” Damian asked, confused.

Robin sounded guilty, “I was mad at you for not calling me, when you had all this going on.”

Damian replied, “Don’t feel bad for that.  There’s nothing any of us could have done about it.  Talia and I had a bad relationship long before you and I ever met.  You have nothing to feel bad for.”

“I want to see you, Damian.  I can get my mom to bring me over, if that’s okay.”

Damian hesitated for a second, even though a wide smile split his face.  “You know, I’m still trying to get my head around all this.  I love you, and I would love to see you, but this is all still so new.  I’m just…confused right now, with everything going on.  I think I’d just like to be with family for a while, just to see where I stand.  Is…is that okay?”

Robin asked softly, “You love me?”

“Of course I do.  Why do you ask?”

Robin’s voice wavered a bit with emotion.  “You’ve never said it before.  You’ve texted it, and emailed it, but you’ve never said it before.”

“I’m not good at expressing myself, Robin.  I’m sorry.”

“I love you, too, Damian.  I can understand wanting to get your head together.  It all sounds really confusing to me, too.  So, you don’t want to see me today?”

Damian felt the knot of nerves in his chest easing as Robin’s understanding washed over him.  “No, no, no, I _want_ to see you.  I just don’t think it would be a good idea right now.”

“I understand, Damian, and it’s perfectly okay.”

Damian’s smile returned, “How about tomorrow?”

 

**A/N: Well, I have to say, I’m rather happy with this one.  This one worked its way into my mind so deeply that I couldn’t concentrate on finishing Birds of a Feather until I cranked this one out.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**I wanted this to be a Jason/ Damian bonding piece, and I think I got a little of that in there.  I wanted them to be able to bond over something that needed to be accomplished outside of the masked world, but that little story point eluded me for a long time.  I had to bring in some outside help to get the story flowing, so credit where credit is due.  Thank you, FireandIce 128, for the idea of using Talia as a foil for brotherly bonding.**

**Some housekeeping notes.  First, I stole the Solex Agitator name and idea from the James Bond movie, The Man With The Golden Gun.  I had four different ideas for the ending of Jason’s hunt for Damian at the beginning of the story, but the one seen here is the only one that didn’t totally bog down the story.  William Khan was going to be developed into a full character, with a full-blown meltdown against Dick’s perceived discrimination, but it completely changed the tone of the entire story, and added close to 8000 words to the tale.  Just trust me, the story is better off without it.**

**Next up is either going to be The Fire That Burns, or a short one-shot that I’m just starting to develop called What is a Penny Worth.  The Fire That Burns, so far, is slated to come in around seven chapters, and will bring drastic changes to my universe.  I can guarantee that some of you won’t like it, but just know that the events I have planned were first thought up long before School of Wrong was finished.  Everything that is going to happen was planned to happen from the moment I introduced the 2016 arc into my timeline.**

**Thanks for playing along.  I always want to know what my readers think of my works, and the best way to do that is through reviews.  Please sign in, instead of reviewing as guests, so I can thank you, or keep a dialog going regarding future stories, or answer your questions.**


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